Radical preacher Abu Qatada was today awarded compensation of £2,500 by judges, who ruled that his detention without trial breached his human rights.
Qatada, often described as Osama Bin Laden's ambassador in Europe, had demanded tens of thousands for being unlawfully held in Belmarsh prison.
Ten other terror suspects today received similar levels of compensation from the European Court of Human Rights - which were lower than feared.
This was 'in view of the fact that the detention scheme (the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001) was devised in the face of a public emergency, and as an attempt to reconcile the need to protect the UK public against terrorism with the obligation not to send the applicants back to countries where they faced a real risk of ill-treatment'.
Today's victory came after Qatada claimed that his detention under anti-terror laws introduced by the Government after the 2001 attacks on America violated the Human Rights Convention.
Today's ruling acknowledged that at the time of the detentions, 'there had been a public emergency threatening the life of the nation'.
But it said the issue was whether the legal measures adopted by the Government in response were 'strictly required by the exigencies of the situation'.
The judges said when someone is detained on the basis of 'an allegedly reasonable suspicion of unlawful behaviour', that person must be given an opportunity effectively to challenge the allegations.
At the time the Government considered there was an urgent need to protect the UK population from terrorist attack and a strong public interest in obtaining information about al-Qaida and its associates, and keeping the sources of such information secret.
But balanced against that, went on the judges, was the detainees' rights to 'procedural fairness'.
Yesterday the preacher lost the latest round of his UK legal battle to stay in Britain.
Critics had branded the human rights case yet another example of human rights and European law madness.
They pointed out that the men could have walked free at any time if they had simply agreed to leave Britain.
News of the case, which by-passed British courts altogether, overshadowed a victory by the Home Office in the long-running saga over whether Qatada can be deported to Jordan.
Law Lords ruled that booting out the preacher of hate would not breach his human rights. But Qatada, 48, - who has already cost the taxpayer £1.5million in legal fees, prison costs and benefit payments - lodged an immediate appeal to the European court. The case could drag on for years, at enormous further cost.
Terror suspects get anonymity protection
Eight of the 11 terror suspects claiming compensation are protected by anonymity orders.
The Special Immigration Appeals Commission - which hears all deportation cases involving terror suspects - grants automatic and immediate anonymity to anyone who appears before it.
This can be lifted only if the suspect decides to place his or her name in the public domain, as Abu Qatada did.
It gives terror suspects a protection not afforded to people in the regular court system, where all defendants over 18 are routinely named.
But SIAC's stance reflects the fact that the men have not been charged with any criminal offence and some of the evidence against them is heard in secret.
Qatada, who has been linked to senior Al Qaeda figures, will be allowed to remain in the UK - where his wife and five children live in an £800,000 West London house - while the appeal is heard.
The 11 men awarded compensation today include six Algerians and Abu Rideh, a Palestinian refugee with Al Qaeda connections.
There was no limit to how much the Strasbourg court could order the Government to pay them, which sparked fears that the payouts could be huge.
A family of Congolese asylum seekers was recently awarded £150,000 for being unlawfully detained for only two months. Some of the men in the Qatada case had claimed for three years in prison.
Tory MP Patrick Mercer, a security adviser to the Prime Minister, said last night: 'This is crazy. Qatada and the others were free to leave this country, and consumed our taxes while living here. The whole thing is a nonsense.'
The compensation claim was based on the time the men spent in Belmarsh under a crackdown in the direct aftermath of September 11.
Ministers passed an emergency law which allowed the detention without charge or trial of international terror suspects, who could not be forcibly removed because of human rights law.
It was made clear to the detainees that they would be released immediately if they agreed to leave the UK. In December 2004, the Law Lords ruled their detention was unlawful under the Human Rights Act and quashed the legislation which allowed it.
In March 2005 it was replaced with the controversial control orders.
The 11 men claimed for inhuman and degrading treatment', and unlawful detention, based on the Law Lords ruling.
Their lawyers went direct to Europe because no compensation is available in the British courts.
Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: 'It's ridiculous that this hateful man is continuing to cost British taxpayers so much money.
'If we weren't tied down with all this EU human rights legislation then we could have slung him out years ago and saved a huge amount of money.
'It's wrong that law-abiding people are landed with massive bills for extremists just because we have sacrificed our national right to deport undesirables.'
Qatada is wanted in his native Jordan, where he was sentenced to life in 1999 for terror offences.
Jordan is one of a number of countries with which the UK has signed a 'memorandum of understanding' which the Home Office insists will ensure deported suspects do not face torture.
Qatada was released on bail last summer but returned to prison in November over fears he would try to abscond. His detention costs an estimated £50,000 a year.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1148622/Preacher-hate-awarded-2-500-judges-rule-jailing-breached-human-rights.html#
JPTF 2009/02/19
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